St John Ambulance volunteers put through their paces at Heartlands

St John Ambulance volunteers from west Cornwall have worked alongside firefighters, police and Heartlands' staff to test their expertise at an emergency exercise.

The exercise saw 35 volunteers from St John Ambulance units in Truro, Helston, Penzance and Falmouth involved in setting up and dealing with a series of challenges at the attraction at Pool.

"This has been a great experience for our volunteers to practice their skills and work with other emergency services in dealing with a complex incident,’ said SJA’s Unit Leader for Truro, Gregg Lean.

"It has really put the training our volunteers have received into an excellent practical opportunity, to refine and develop their clinical abilities."

Organised by SJA volunteer, Loretta Bowman, the scenario was an accident during a concert at the Heartlands site, with the aim of providing volunteers with real life training in a multi-agency response.

Crews had to deal with people trapped in, or under vehicles, trauma injuries and a variety of medical conditions in their ongoing development of first aid and ambulance skills.

Gregg added: ‘I would like to thank Heartlands and their staff for allowing this to happen and Camborne police and the fire service for their input.’

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Many of the medical crews involved in the exercise are on current training courses or probationary ambulance attendants, so the event provided them with useful clinical experience, improved communication skills and an understanding of fire service and police roles and procedures.

For more information on St John Ambulance’s work, including how to become a volunteer and details of training for the public, schools and businesses, visit www.sja.org.uk or call 08700 10 49 50.

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